New Year's Resolution

New Year Resolutions

I haven’t done this in a while but I guess writing it and publishing it on my blog makes me truly accountable for trying to achieve my goals. Do note that I wrote “trying” before “achieve” because I don’t want to set the bar too high…

At some point last year, I wrote in my blog that I was on a mission to get into the best shape of my adult life. It is true that I am now in the best shape of my adult life, however, I have managed to gain a lot of weight since the summer time. I think the process of moving from living on my own to living with my parents while studying for the bar and back to living on my own again affected my eating habits tremendously. In addition, the transition from being a student to a working professional also had something to do w/ the weight gain.

My first NY resolution is losing weight, keeping it off, and doing it the healthy way.

Eating Habits

My goal is to lose some pounds and return to my summer weight. Whatever that was. I only know depending on how my clothes fit. Here's a photo for inspiration.

Water

Why do we always forget to drink water? The first thing I do in the morning now is drink a full glass of iced cold water. Drink LOTS of water.

Drinking

OMG. This part is so hard. I’m trying to limit to weekends (limited consumption) only and no weekday drinking. One glass of wine at dinner if I must have some during the week.

Living Alone

I eat alone a lot and as I do believe that all things are relative – I’ve had no one else’s plate to measure up to and see how much I’m actually eating. I now try to use dessert plates for dinner and do not go back for seconds. Also, when I was living at home we had a “no carbs” rule at dinner time. I am trying to go back to that rule for myself as well.

Snacking

I love crackers and can finish boxes and bags in a sitting. However, with other people such as my parents around, they make snide remarks when they notice I’m consuming way too many and this usually gets me to stop. I now take out as many crackers as I’m allowed to eat and put the box or bag away.

At work, I find myself looking forward to meal times because it means I get a break. I tend to overeat. I now bring healthy snacks to work and try to eat more times and smaller meals each time. My fave is baby carrots w/ either hummus or PB depending on either my craving for sweet or savory.

Desserts

Whenever I’m gaining weight, I begin to crave sweets uncontrollably. I now make myself eat a fruit instead of chocolates or baked goods. I go for apples, pears, or oranges. I realize that after I have a fruit, my craving for sweets is gone.

Holidays

It is so easy to overeat during the holidays because of the massive amount of food. What I do now is fill my plate first with the salad then add the rest as though I’m just making my own salad at the salad bar. I do go easy w/ the protein and cheese.

As for the desserts during the holidays, I take a sliver of each. It’s just WAY TOO HARD to skip out on that part but having a huge salad as the entrée make me feel less guilty about the sugar.

Working Out

I have to incorporate more cardio in my exercise routine even though I hate it and dread it.

Cardio

I now make myself run at least 2 miles on the treadmill and 3 on the elliptical or that in between machine as I call it on high resistance (8 and up) before I start my strength training.

At Home

Whenever I can’t make it to the gym, I will try to do an intensive yoga workout at home as well as an abs exercise. I try to do at least 20 minutes of abs workout – it goes by pretty quickly while watching Bridalplasty.  

At work

I take the stairs almost everywhere like on the T and in my work building. The only thing is that I get really dizzy because of the winding of the stairs so I try to look down the entire time. I try to drink lots of WATER at work.

My second NY resolution is being more patient with myself and others

Unnecessary Multitasking

Extremes

I, often, think that if I can’t get one thing done soon enough then it only slows down my getting the second thing done. Which is why I’m often doing three things at once even though it is not always necessary to multitask. I can’t respond to an email seriously without also being on the phone while scrolling through google reader. I don’t believe in doing things on a small scale because that’s for others to do and not I. I can’t cook on just one stove top because if I’m going to be around the stove, I might as well work all four and the oven. I was recently asked why is there no in-betweens with me – why is it that if I were to do something I either go big or go home. I must reflect.

Moments

I approach life in the same way and manner. I think about what’s going to happen in two years one month into my fellowship. I start writing down goals and steps I must take to secure what might happen in two years. I then forget to stop and truly enjoy the moment because every time I reach a moment (that was once set as a future goal), I’m too busy setting my goal for the next moment. I truly never get to enjoy the moment ever. I’ve just used never and ever in the same sentence. FAIL.

I have got no solutions yet. I will come up with some, soon.